From Kunal Talgeri, India

Trust the one-and-only Navjot Singh Sidhu to be involved in a tectonic shift in India's ODI ranks. It was Holi 1994, when a neck strain thwarted his chance of playing the Auckland one-dayer against hosts New Zealand. And Sachin Tendulkar opened the innings, immortalised since. During the Bangalore ODI against England on Sunday, one wondered if it would take a neck strain to Ian Bell (or Ravi Bopara) before the English would promote Pietersen or Flintoff to the top of the order. It is a fundamental high-risk ploy, which even India might not have considered in 1994 but for Sidhu. It's a masterstroke that has altered the format itself: push your best hitter right to the top. How different England's reply may have seemed on Sunday if the captain had set things in motion in his own inimitable slam-bang style. The apprehensions though are justified.

In the sudden-death India-Austalia ODI in World Cup 1999, Tendulkar opened the innings as he had for five years. McGrath had his number soon, as he would again in the 2003 World Cup final. Suddenly, losing Tendulkar in the first five overs didn't seem such a good idea. The risk is high, but the returns reflect in the records of a Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Adam Gilchrist and Sanath Jayasuriya. It has, in the process, benefitted the team of each more than it has harmed it. Just what will it take England to do something of radical proportions in one-day cricket? Maybe, a season of IPL.